Child Friendly Recipes - Fruit Pizza

Child friendly recipes are fun to create. What makes a child friend recipe? A recipe that incorporates fun and good foods. Fruits and vegetables are favorite ingredients in child friendly recipes. Using these fresh ingredients provide vibrant colors that are appealing to children while also providing a nutritious meal.

Fruit can be cut into small sizes so a toddler can experience the texture as well as the taste of these healthy food group. Fruits or vegetables make excellent finger foods and can be easily added to fun recipes that children love. This fun "fruit pizza" is an example of a food project that allows children to select fruits in different colors and create a healthy snack while having fun creating fun faces.

Allow children to choose colorful fruits at the store or farmers' market. Turn the kids loose in the kitchen creating imaginative faces on this delicious fruit pizza. Odds are, they will snack as they create--and like what they taste.

Child Friendly Fruit Pizza

Ingredients

*Graham cracker piecrust

Filling for pie:

*1/2 cup fat free or low fat cream cheese
*1 tablespoon sugar
*1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
*1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
*1 tablespoon 1% milk

Toppings:

Suggestions for fruit pizza faces:
*Strawberries for the nose
*Kiwi fruit or seedless grapes for the eyes
*A banana for the mouth

The choices for making the face are only limited by their imaginations. The kids can choose pineapples, mandarin orange, grapes or any fruit they like.

Instructions:

To Prepare the Filling:

1. Whisk together cream cheese, sugar, vanilla extract, and lemon juice.
2. Add just enough milk to the mix to make it spreadable onto the crust.
3. Spread the cream-cheese mixture with a rubber spatula.
4. Spread to the edge of the crust.
Now its time for the kids to get involved.
*Allow the kids to arrange the fruit onto the cream cheese mixture.
*Don't worry if it is not perfect. It is perfectly nutritious and fun.
*Children may want to add sprinkles or chocolate chips. Let their imaginations run wild.
*Refrigerate the pizza for at least 1 hour.
*Slice with a sharp knife and serve.

The kids will be impatient and want to eat the pizza right away. This pizza cream cheese mixture is almost set but will cut easier if refrigerated for at least 1 hour. Let the kids help you with the cleanup. They will be anxious to taste their creation.